Construction won’t begin this year on the expansion to Abbotsford Regional Hospital’s emergency room.
While work on the ER’s $15 million expansion was originally set to begin this spring, Fraser Health says construction has been pushed back after a reorganization at ARH that officials say will improve services more quickly.
By moving the hospital’s adolescent day treatment program for outpatients off-site, a cascading series of departments shifted locations in a way that freed up more space for emergency services, according to a spokesperson.
The hospital’s new mental health and substance use area adjacent to the ER has been shifted, but will still be next to the emergency department. The unit will still include its own nursing station, consult rooms and seclusion spaces, a spokesperson said.
That space will move into an area vacated by the psychiatric clinical decision unit, which will be relocated elsewhere in the hospital. Officials say that will improve access and workflow. Moving the adolescent day treatment program to Foundry Abbotsford on Simon Avenue, will provide easier access to those who use it, a spokesperson said.
